(c)Veneration of the relics of the saints.

The word relics is derived from the latin vocable reliquire (the counter part of the Greek leipsana) meaning to leave behind. In the language of the Church, it is the name given to the remains of the saints, as well as to objects that have been closely connected with Christ or the saints. The veneration of the relics of the saints can be traced back to the earliest ages of Christianity. In the eye witness account of the martydom of St. Polycarp which was written around 156 A.D, we are informed that when the aged bishop Polycarp was martyred, killed with a dagger after the fire which his persecutors lited to consume him failed to do its job. 1 Many Christains watching desired to take his body away and to touch his holy flesh. But, as the author says, the jealous and envious evil one the adversary of the race of the just, saw the greatness of his martydom and his irreproachable life from the beginning; he saw also that he was crowned with a crown of immortality and had won an inestimable prize. So he took measures that his poor body should not be taken away by us. So he put up Nicetas the father of Herod, and the brother of Alise, to request the Governor not to surrender his body, lest, it was said, they might abandon the crucified one and begin to worship the man. They said this at the suggestion and instigation of the Jews who also watched as we were going to take the body from the fire.2 The author clarifies the mistaken notion saying: For they did not know that we can never abandon the innocent Christ who suffered on behalf of sinners for the salvation of those in the world who have been saved, and we cannot worship another. He then goes on to make a sharp distinction between the worship offered to Christ and the veneration offered to the martyrs: For we worship Him *Christ+ as the Son of God, while we love the martyrs as disciples and imitators of the Lord, for their insuperable affection for their own King and Teacher. With them may we also be made companions and fellow disciples.3 Polycarp persecutors decide that his body should be burnt: The centurion put the body in the middle, as was their custom, and burned it. But even with this, the Christians of Smyrna did not shun or neglec t the remains of the martyred bishop. And so, afterwards, we took up his bones, morevaluable than precious stones and finer than gold, and put them in a proper place. There, as far as we were able, the Lord will permit us to meet together in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom, both in memory of those who fought the fight and for the training and preparation of those who will fight.4 The document known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp is a letter from the Church of Smyrna addressed to the Church of God at Philomelium and all the communities of the Holy Catholic Church everywhere5 Thus, the Martrydom of Polycarp was written with the intention that its contents would be read in churches everywhere. Now in the passage cited above, the author speaks of the honour which they, the Christains of Smyrna, offer to the relics of their martyred bishop Polycarp without any attempt to explain to his readers why a Christain should venerate the relics of the martyrs. He treats the practice of venerating relics as something know to his readers. It is also important to note that the Martyrdom of Polycarp was not rejected either by
1 2

.Martyrdom of Polycarp, 16,1. .Ibid, 17,1-2a. 3 .Ibid, 17,2b-3. 4 .Ibid,18,2-3. 5 .Ibid, Introduction.

the Christain communities of the second century or by the Christain writers of the second century for conveying novel ideas but was accepted in that century by all who read it and was widely disseminated, as can be seen from the history of the transmission of the document found at the end of the document and the translations of the document which has come down to us from many parts of the ancient Christian world. Therefore the practice of venerating relics was common place within the Church when the author of the Martyrdom of Polycarp wrote about it in the year 156 A.D. But that neccessarilly imply that Christains were venerating the relics of the martyrs long before that time. From the Martyrdom of Polycarp we saw that in the earliest days it was the practice of the local Christian community of a martyr to come together on the aniversary of that martyr so as to celebrate the liturgy above or on the grave of that martyr. In those times there were some martyrs who were honoured by the universal Church and not only by their local communities. In the case of such martyrs, Christians must have travelled long distances to visit their(i.e. the martyrs) local communities so as to participate in the liturgical celebration that was held over or on their graves. That such was the case can be seen from the next testimony which we are about to cite. The Depisito Martyrium in the Chronograph of Philocolus of the year 354 (cf. Martyrologium Hieronymianum) demonstrates that there was about the year 258 A.D a shrine of the Apostles Peter and Paul on the Via Appia under the basilica of St. Sabastian which in ancient times was called memoria apostolorum (memory of the Apostles). Excavation in St. Sabastian which began in 1915 has proved the existance of such a shrine about the year 258 in which the Apostles were honoured by refigeria, memorial services, as the numerous inscriptions (graffiti) on the walls testify. In these, visitors to the shrines invokes the intercession of the two Apostles. Here are a few examples: Peter and Paul, remember us Peter and Paul, pray for Leonitus Paul and Peter, pray for Victor Paul, Peter, pray for Eratus Paul, Peter, pray for Sozomen Thus, the custom of visiting the shrines of the saints with the intention of obtaining the aid of the saints was an old age custom in the Church before the year 258 A.D. In the Proconsula Acts of St. Cyprain, the bishop of Cathage, who was martyred September 14, 258, we are informed that during the execution of the blessed bishop his brethren held out pieces of cloth and handkerchiefs *to receive the bood as relics+.6 This practice of holding out pieces of cloths during the execution of a martyr in order to collect his or her blood and try and obtain relics of them seem to be wide spread in the third century. The Christian Poet Prudentius (348-405), who probably was relying on reliable tradition, informs us that the Christians who
6

.The Proconsula Acts of St. Cyprain, 6.

witness the martyrdom of the Spanish deacon Vincent(d.304) used linen to collect his blood as relics: Did you not, O Vincent, heroic witness, Destined to meet death in a srange arena, Presage your ordeal by blood that moistened Streets of this city? These drops the saints townsmen preserved and cherish As though their soil sheltrered his very body And his sacred relics were resting in the Tomb of his fathers7 From all the city you might see The faithful thronging to the scene To make for him an easeful bed And wipe the blood from gaping wounds. They kiss the double furrows made By cruel lacerating claws, And even lick with pious joy His body stained with purpling gore. And many moisten linen cloths With blood that oozes from his wounds To keep as relics in their homes For generations yet to come.8 The Chruch historian Eusebius Pamphilus(263-336), writing before the year 303 A.D., informs us that the chair of the Apostle St. James has been venerated by the Christian community at Jerusalem from the earlist times:
The throne of Jameswho was the first to recieve from the Saviour and His Apostles the episcopacy of the Jerusalem church and was called Christs brother, as the sacred book showhas been preserved to this day. The Christians there, who in their turn look after it with such loving care, make clear to all the veneration in which saintly men high in the favour of God were regarded in time past and are regarded to 9 this day

Eusebius, also makes mention of the custom of visiting the shrines of the Martyrs with the intention of obtaining their aid:
These customs*i.e. of honouring those who have departed from this life+ also may fitly be adopted on the death of those beloved of God, whom you would not do wrong in calling soldiers of the true religion.

7 8

.Prudentius, The book of the Martyrs Crowns, 4,89-96. .Ibid,5,333-344. 9 .Eusebius Pamphilus, History of the Church, 7,19.

Hence comes also our custom of visiting their tombs, and offering our prayers beside them, and 10 honouring their blessed souls, believing that we do this with good reason.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, writing in the 350s, speaks of the discovery of the True Cross and its veneration at Jerusalem and adds that particles of it have been taken by pilgrims to places that now cover almost the whole world.11 There is archaeological evidence to support the above statement of St. Cyril that relics of the True Cross were distributed in those times to other regions in the Christian world. In 1889 two French archaeologists, Lataille and Audollent, discovered at Tixter near Setif in Algeria (North Africa) an inscription of the year 359 in which, among other relics, is mentioned the sacred wood of the cross. A nun named Aetheria (Egeria) of southern Gaul or Spain who came to Jerusalem on Pilgrimage in the 380s, has left us with a detailed description of the veneration of the True Cross at Jerusalem. The event took place on Good Friday:
Then a chair is placed for the bishop in Golgotha behind the Cross, which is now standing; the bishop duly takes his seat in the chair, and a table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; the deacons stand round the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the holy wood of the Cross. The casket is opened and (the wood) is taken out, and both the wood of the Cross and the title are placed upon the table. Now, when it has been put upon the table, the bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the deacons who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus because the custom is that the people, both faithful and catechumens, come one by one and, bowing down at the table, kiss the sacred wood and pass through. And because, I know not when, some one is said to have bitten off and stolen a portion of the sacred wood, it is thus guarded by the deacons who stand around, lest any one approaching should venture to do so again. And as all the people pass by one by one, all bowing themselves, they touch the Cross and the title, first with their foreheads and then with their eyes; 12 then they kiss the Cross and pass through, but none lays his hand upon it to touch it.

Here mention is made of the custom of venerating relics with signs of reverence such as bowing and kissing. There is evidence in St. Optatus treatise The schism of the Donatists written about 367 A.D. that the custom of venerating relics with signs of reverence such as kissing, was familiar to Christians way before Egeria made mention of it. St. Optatus, in that work, narrates to us an event involving a wealthy Spanish Catholic lady Lucilla and an arch Deacon Caecilian which took place in Carthage (Tunisia, Northern Africa) in the year 300 A.D.:
No one is unaware that the Schism, after the consecration of Caecilian, was effected at Carthage through a certain mischief-making woman named Lucilla. When the Church was still in tranquility, before her Peace had been disturbed by the storms of persecution, this woman could not put up with the rebuke which she received from the archdeacon Caecilian. It was said that she kissed a bone of some martyr or other----if he was a martyr----before she received the spiritual Food and Drink. Having then been corrected for thus touching----before she touched the Sacred Chalice----the bone of a dead man (if he was a martyr, at least he had not yet been acknowledged as such), she went away in confusion, full of wrath.

10 11

.Ibid,Preparation for the Gospel, 13,9. .St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, 10,19; cf. 4,10; 13,4; Letter to Constantius, 3. 12 .Iteineranio Egeriae, 37,1-3.

This was the woman upon whom, whilst she was angry and afraid that she might fall under the discipline 13 of the Church, on a sudden, the storm of persecution broke.

The wealthy lady was reprimanded not because she paid religious veneration to the relics of the martyrs but because the martyrs, whose relics she paid religious veneration to, had not been authenticated by the Church. We should remember that about that time Catholics in Africa were strictly forbidden to honour with religious veneration any martyr who had not been recognised as such. There are some, who in a fit of fanatical enthusiasm had surrendered voluntarily to the persecutions, thus bringing death upon themselves. Those who had been guilty of this practice, which the Church never tolerated, far from being considered martyrs, were looked upon by Catholics as disobedient and self destroyers. But we can still move backwards earlier than the time of Lucilla in tracing this custom of venerating the relics of the saints with signs of reverence. Tertullian as far back as the year 203 made mention of it when speaking of the custom of venerating the instrument of torture of the martyrs: *What unbelieving husband+ will permit her to creep into prison to kiss a martyr's chains?14 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, in his life of St. Anthony which was written about 357 A.D., informs us that a couple of moments before St. Anthonys death (356) he gave orders that his garment should be shared to certain individuals. After his death those individuals preserved his garments as a precious treasure:
Divide my garments. To Athanasius the bishop give one sheepskin and the garment whereon I am laid, which he himself gave me new, but which with me has grown old. To Serapion the bishop give the other sheepskin, and keep the hair garment yourselves1146. For the rest fare ye well, my children, for Antony is departing, and is with you no more. Having said this, when they had kissed him, he lifted up his feet, and as though he saw friends coming to him and was glad because of themfor as he lay his countenance appeared joyfulhe died and was gathered to the fathers. And they afterward, according to his commandment, wrapped him up and buried him, hiding his body underground. And no one knows to this day where it was buried, save those two only. But each of those who received the sheepskin of the blessed Antony and the garment worn by him guards it as a precious treasure. For even to look on them is 15 as it were to behold Antony; and he who is clothed in them seems with joy to bear his admonitions

St. Basil of Caesarea, in a letter to St. Ambrose written about 375 A.D., speaks of the transportation of the relics of the Milanese Catholic bishop St. Dionysius who was forced out of his see during the arian upsurge and who died in exile at Cappadocia:
No doubt a great aid to the attainment of the object desired was the presence of our well beloved and reverend son Therasius the presbyter. He voluntarily undertook all the toil of the journey; he moderated the energy of the faithful on the spot; he persuaded opponents by his arguments; in the presence of priests and deacons, and of many others who fear the Lord, he took up the relics with all becoming reverence, and has aided the brethren in their preservation. These relics do you receive with a joy equivalent to the distress with which their custodians have parted with them and sent them to you. Let none dispute; let none doubt. Here you have that unconquered athlete. These bones, which shared in the conflict with the blessed soul, are known to the Lord. These bones He will crown, together with that soul, in the righteous day of His requital, as it is written, "we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
13 14

.St. Optatus of Milevis, The Schism of the Donatists, 1,16. .Tertullian, To his wife,2,4. 15 .St. Athanasius, Life of Anthony, 91-92.

that each may give an account of the deeds he has done in the body." One coffin held that honoured corpse. None other lay by his side. The burial was a noble one; the honours of a martyr were paid him. Christians who had welcomed him as a guest and then with their own hands laid him in the grave, have now disinterred him. They have wept as men bereaved of a father and a champion. But they have sent him to you, for they put your joy before their own consolation. Pious were the hands that gave; scrupulously careful were the hands that received. There has been no room for deceit; no room for guile. I 16 bear witness to this. Let the untainted truth be accepted by you.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his Praise of Theodore the Martyr which was delivered on February 7, 381, at Euchaita, where the martyrion of the saint was, says:
Should a person come to a place similar to our assembly today where the memory of the just and the rest of the saints is present, first consider this house's great dignity to which souls are lead. God's temple is brightly adorned with magnificence and is embellished with decorations, pictures of animals which masons have fashioned with delicate silver figures. It exhibits images of flowers made in the likeness of the martyr's virtues, his struggles, sufferings, the various savage actions of tyrants, assaults, that fiery furnace, the athlete's blessed consummation and the human form of Christ presiding over all these events. They are like a book skillfully interpreting by means of colors which express the martyr's struggles and glorify the temple with resplendent beauty. The pictures located on the walls are eloquent by their silence and offer significant testimony; the pavement on which people tread is combined with small stones and is significant to mention in itself. These spectacles strike the senses and delight the eye by drawing us near to [the martyr's] tomb which we believe to be both a sanctification and blessing. If anyone takes dust from the martyr's resting place, it is a gift and a deserving treasure. Should a person have both the good fortune and permission to touch the relics, this experience is a highly valued prize and seems like a dream both to those who were cured and whose wish was fulfilled. The body appears as if it were alive and healthy: the eyes, mouth, ears as well as the other senses are a cause for pouring out tears of reverence and emotion. In this way one implores the martyr who intercedes on our behalf and is an attendant of God for imparting those favors and blessings which people seek. From all this, oh devout people, learn that "the death of his holy ones is admirable before the Lord" [Ps 115.6], for all men comprise one and the same body; they share the same substance as one dough and are carried off to death. However, the martyr's suffering bestows grace which is lovable, joyful and undeniable as the text above teaches. Therefore we believe that appearances hold out the promise of future blessings procured 17 from trials endured in the world.

Elsewhere in his sermon on the Forty Martyrs delivered in March 383, he wrote concerning their bodies which were burnt by their persecutors:
We now see that these men gifted with a three-fold blessing attained what they set out to accomplish. The despot who sought vengeance quickly bestowed victory upon the martyrs once death overtook their bodies in battle and ordered that the habitation of these holy souls be handed over to the flames. In this fashion he imitated savage beasts and cruel men. Having ripped apart the garments [bodies] of men who have fled, he lacerated their clothes and burned their homes once they escaped. One of the martyrs rightly said to him, "No longer do I fear your cruelty, oh foolish man. I will tremble when our souls draw near to these frozen bodies, not the tormentor's arrogance which vanquishes the courage of the saints. Although this terror has passed and remains stuck in the mud, you do not realize that I have fled the body. The intense assaults ranged against us have been a means of securing fortitude. Why should we delay? The bodies have been consumed by flames. We have scattered their ashes and burnt remains, and the entire earth praises these saints. I will share in their merits by placing my parents' bodies beside the

16 17

.St. Basil of Caesarea, Letter 197,2. .St. Gregory of Nyssa, Praise of Theodore the Martyr, PG 46,741-740.

remains of these soldiers. In this way they will rise at the resurrection with those who are filled with greater confidence. I know they will prevail because I have witnessed their courage and faith before 18 God.

This custom of seeking burial near the tombs of the martyrs, which St. Gregory here mentions, was widespread in the fourth century. Pope St. Damascus (366-384), in one of the poems which he inscribed on the wall close to the tomb of Pope St. Sixtus II (257-258), says:
Here, should you ask, lies a vast company of the righteous gathered together; the venerable tombs preserve the bodies of the saints, but the kingdom of heaven has caught to itself their glorious souls. Here are the companions of Xystus, who bear away the trophies from the enemy; here many of the leaders who serve the altars of Christ; here is laid the bishop who lived in the long peace; here the holy confessors whom Greece sent; here young men and boys, old men and their chaste grandsons, who preferred rather to keep intact their virgin modesty. Here I, Damasus, wished, I confess it, to lay ray limbs, but I feared to vex the holy ashes of the righteous.(Extant in the Papal crypt in the Catacomb of Callixtus)

St. Paulinus of Nola (354-431) informs us in one of his poems that Celsus who died in infancy sometime between the years 372-394 was buried near the shrines of the martyrs in his native land: In the city of Complutum we buried *the body of Celsus+, alongside the martyrs with whom he shares the compact of the tomb, so that with the blood of the saints close by he may sprinkle our souls when they are in fire after death.19 Infact, the actual grave inscriptions of many of such cases have come down to us. Here we shall content ourselves with quoting just a few:
"Serpentius bought himself a tomb from the fossor [i.e. grave-digger] Quintus near the grave of the martyr S.Cornelius."(Cemetery of Callisto, now near Avellino) "Januarius and Silana bought themselves a tomb to hold two bodies near the grave of S. Felicitas." (Cemetery of S. Felicitas) "They prepared a sepulchre for their daughter above the arcosolium near the grave of the martyr S. Hippolytus." (Cemetery of S. Hippolytus. Lateran Museum) "Valeria and Sabina during their lifetime bought from Apro and Victor a grave for two bodies in the new crypt behind the saints."(Northcote, Roma Sotterranea, p.171) "It is unquestionable that we Januarius and Britia bought a place in front of [the sepulchre of] Lady Emerita from the diggers Burdo and Micinus and Muscus for the consideration of one solidus of gold and a half in the Consulship of our Lords Theodosius and Valentinian for the 2nd time*i.e. 426 A.D.+(Cemetery of Commodilla) "Victor, in peace, son of Bishop Victor of the City of the Ucrenses. He lived 39 years 7 months. He departed on the 11th day before the Calends of November, in the Consulship of our Lord Honorius, for the sixth time, Augustus (i.e. October 22nd, 404 A.D.) Buried in the Basilica of Saints Nasarius and Nabor, in the second arch near the window." (In vico quodam ad S. Marae supra Minervam ; De Rossi, n. 534.)

18 19

.Ibid, Second Letter concerning the Forty Martyrs. .St.Paulinus of Nola, Poem,31,605.

A detailed explanation of the practice of seeking burial near the tombs of the martyrs may be read in St. Augustines treatise On care to be had for the dead written between the years 424425 A.D. There the holy doctor wrote:
The providing for the interment of bodies a place at the Memorials of Saints, is a mark of a good human affection towards the remains of one's friends: since if there be religion in the burying, there cannot but be religion in taking thought where the burying shall be. But while it is desirable there should be such like solaces of survivors, for the showing forth of their pious mind towards their beloved, I do not see what helps they be to the dead save in this way: that upon recollection of the place in which are deposited the bodies of those whom they love, they should by prayer commend them to those same Saints, who have as patrons taken them into their charge to aid them before the Lord. Which indeed they would be still able to do, even though they were not able to inter them in such places. But then the only reason why the name Memorials or Monuments is given to those sepulchres of the dead which become, specially distinguished, is that they recall to memory, and by putting in mind cause us to think of, them who by death are withdrawn from the eyes of the living, that they may not by forgetfulness be also withdrawn from men's hearts. For both the term Memorial most plainly shews this, and Monument is so named from monishing, that is, putting in mind. For which reason the Greeks also call that mnhmeon which we call a Memorial or Monument: because in their tongue the memory itself, by which we remember, is called mnhmh. When therefore the mind recollects where the body of a very dear friend lies buried, and thereupon there occurs to the thoughts a place rendered venerable by the name of a Martyr, to that same Martyr doth it commend the soul in affection of heartfelt recollection21 and prayer. And when this affection is exhibited to the departed by faithful men who were most dear to them, there is no doubt that it profits them who while living in the body merited that such things should profit them after this life. But even if some necessity should through absence of all facility not allow bodies to be interred, or in such places interred, yet should there be no pretermitting of supplications for the spirits of the dead: which supplications, that they should be made for all in Christian and catholic fellowship departed, even without mentioning of their names, under a general commemoration, the Church hath charged herself withal; to the intent that they which lack, for these offices, parents or sons or whatever kindred or friends, may have the same afforded unto them by the one pious mother which is common to all. But if there were lack of these supplications, which are made with right faith and piety for the dead, I account that it should not a whir profit their spirits, howsoever in holy places the lifeless bodies should be deposited. When therefore the faithful mother of a faithful son departed desired to have his body deposited in the basilica of a Martyr, forasmuch as she believed that his soul would be aided by the merits of the Martyr, the very believing of this was a sort of supplication, and this profited, if aught profited. And in that she recurs in her thoughts to this same sepulchre, and in her prayers more and more commends her son, the spirit of the departed is aided, not by the place of its dead body, but by that which springs from memory of the place, the living affection of the mother. For at once the thought, who is commended and to whom, doth touch, and that with no unprofitable emotion, the religious mind of her who prays. For also in prayer to God, men do with the members of their bodies that which becometh suppliants, when they bend their knees, when they stretch forth their hands, or even prostrate themselves on the ground, and whatever else they visibly do, albeit their invisible will and heart's intention be known unto God, and He needs not these tokens that any man's mind should be opened unto Him: only hereby one more excites himself to pray and groan more humbly and more fervently. And I know not how it is, that, while these motions of the body cannot be made but by a motion of the mind preceding, yet by the same being outwardly in visible sort made, that inward invisible one which made them is increased: and thereby the heart's affection which preceded that they might be made, groweth because they are made. But still if any be in that way held, or even bound, that he is not able to do these things with his limbs, it does not follow that the inner man does not pray, and before the eyes of God in its most secret chamber, where it hath compunction, cast itself on the ground. So likewise, while it makes very much difference, where a person deposits the body of his dead, while he supplicates for his spirit unto God, because both the affection preceding chose a spot which was holy, and after the body is there deposited the recalling to mind of that holy spot renews and increases the affection which had preceded; yet, though he may not be able in that

place which his religious mind did choose to lay in the ground him whom he loves, in no wise ought he to 20 cease from necessary supplications in commending of the same.

It is important here to mention another practice which was wide spread in the fourth century: The practice of building basilicas over the tombs of the martyrs or on the spot where objects or relics associated with Christs death were interred. In Jerusalem, the Emperor Constantine (285 339) had two basilicas, the Martyrion and the Anastasis, built on the spot where relics associated with Christs death were interred. The Martyrion was built on the site of the Crucifixion, and the Anastasis on the site of the Holy Sepulchre. In Rome, the basilica of St. Peter which was probably completed in the 394 A.D was built over the graveyard on the Vatican hill with the tomb of the Apostle St. Peter lying directly underneath the high alter. The libre Pontificalis maintains that Emperor Constantine erected a place of worship on the Apostle St. Pauls tomb, consecrated on the 18th of November 324. The Church historian Socrates (fifth century A.D) informs us that during the reign of Emperor Arcahius a basilica already stood near the spot St. Acacius suffered martyrdom by hanging: Not long after the death of John, the Emperor Arcadius died also. This prince was of a mild and gentle disposition, and toward the close of his life was esteemed to be greatly beloved of God, from the following circumstance. There was at Constantinople an immense mansion called Carya; for in the court of it there is a walnut tree on which it is said Acacius suffered martyrdom by hanging; on which account a chapel was built near it, which the Emperor Arcadius one day thought fit to visit, and after having prayed there, left again.21In Bithynia, a basilica was erected over the tomb of St. Euphemia who suffered martyrdom at Chalcedon, probably under Galerius (305-311). The Church historian Evagrius (sixth century A.D) informs us that it was in this church that the fourth Ecumenical Council of the Church met in 451 A.D : The place of meeting was the sacred precinct of Euphemia, the martyr, situated in the district of Chalcedon in Bithynia, and distant not more than two stadia from the Bosphorus. The site is a beautiful spot, of so gentle an ascent.22 In Spain, a shrine was erected over the tomb of St. Eulalia of Merida who was martyred in Emerita in Lusitania (modern Merida) in the year 304 during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. The Christian Poet Prudentius, writing at the close of the fourth century, speaks about that shine which already stood in his time: Favored indeed in the land that preserves safe in its bosom her relics sublime: There in a temple agleam with the light glancing from the marbles of Spain and the world, shrined are Eulalias sacred remains. 23 In the city of Seleucia (modern Silifke, Turkey) there stood a shrine in honor of St. Thecla. We know from St. Gregory of Nazianzus correspondence that in the year 374 he withdrew to the shrine of the highly praised maid Thecla.24 In Germany, a chapel was built over the graves of the soldier martyrs, Sts. Cassius and Florentius, at Bonn. It was the old custom of visiting the graves of the martyrs and celebrating the liturgy over or on their graves (Apoc. 6:9 could be an early allusion to this custom but it is well attested from the second century onwards. See Martyrdom of Polycarp cited above) that led to the practice of building basilica on the spot so that the altar
20 21

.St. Augustine, On care to be had for the dead, 6-7. .Socrates, History of the Church, 6,23. 22 .Evagrius Scholasticus, Church History, 2,3. 23 .Prudentius, The book of the Crown, 3,191-195. 24 .St. Gregory of Nazianzus, De vita sua, 548-9.

would stand immediately over the martyrs grave. This practice, in turn, gave rise to the cus tom of putting relics of the martyrs on the altars of ordinary parish churches within the city. St. Ambrose of Milan, already in the year 386 A.D., makes mention of that custom:
Bring these victorious victims [i.e. the relics of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius] to the spot where Christ is the sacrifice. But He, Who suffered for all, upon the Altar, they, who have been redeemed by His passion, under the Altar. This spot I had destined for myself, for it is fitting that the priest should rest where he hath been wont to offer, but I give up the right side to the sacred victims: that spot was due to the martyrs. Wherefore let us bury the hallowed relics, placing them in a worthy home, and let us employ 25 the whole day in faithful devotion.

Victricius of Rouen, writing in the year 396 says to his flock during the arrival at Rouen of the relics of the saints that were sent from Italy: Stretched out on the ground, and watering the earth with our tears, let us call out with one voice, so that you [the saints], who inhabit forever the holy Relics, may purge our bodies.26 St. Jerome, in a letter written around 404 A.D. to console Eustochium for the loss her mother Paula, informs us of Paulas visit to the holy land:
In visiting the holy places so great was the passion and the enthusiasm she exhibited for each, that she could never have torn herself away from one had she not been eager to visit the rest. Before the Cross she threw herself down in adoration as though she beheld the Lord hanging upon it: and when she entered the tomb which was the scene of the Resurrection she kissed the stone which the angel had rolled away from the door of the sepulchre. [Matthew 28:2] Indeed so ardent was her faith that she even licked with her mouth the very spot on which the Lord's body had lain, like one thirsty for the river which he has longed for. What tears she shed there, what groans she uttered, and what grief she poured forth, 27 all Jerusalem knows; the Lord also to whom she prayed knows.

During the time of St. Jerome, Vigilantius, a priest of Gaul, wrote a treatise in which he attacked the veneration of relics of the saints and the keeping of night vigils. Vigilantius in his attack on the veneration of the relics of the saints raised the objection that the practice is idolatrous. St. Jerome was informed about this by Riparius, also a priest of Gaul. To Riparius, St. Jerome wrote a letter (about 404 A.D.) in which he examines and refutes the objections of Vigilantius based on his knowledge of them from Riparius. Later, when Riparius had sent him the book written by Vigilantius, St. Jerome wrote his treatise Against Vigilantius (406 A.D.) in which he examines and refutes the objections of Vigilantius based on his knowledge of them from Vigilantius book. In both his letter to Riparius and his treatise Against Vigilantius, St. Jerome distinguished between latria and dulia, and pointed out that that the veneration of the relics is a relative veneration, i.e. refers really to the person of the martyr. In his letter to Riparius:
You tell me that Vigilantius...has again opened his fetid lips and is pouring forth a torrent of filthy venom upon the relics of the holy martyrs; and that he calls us who cherish them ashmongers and idolaters who pay homage to dead men's bones. Unhappy wretch! To be wept over by all Christian men, who sees not that in speaking thus he makes himself one with the Samaritans and the Jews who hold dead bodies
25 26

.St. Ambrose, Letter 22,13. See 22,1. .Victricius of Rouen, De Laude Sanctorum, 6. 27 .St. Jerome, Letter 108, 9.

unclean and regard as defiled even vessels which have been in the same house with them, following the letter that kills and not the spirit that gives life [2 Cor. 3:6]. We, it is true, refuse to worship or adore, I say not the relics of the martyrs, but even the sun and moon, the angels and archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come[Eph. 1:21]. For we may not serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever [Rom. 1:25]. Still we honour the relics of the martyrs, that we may adore Him whose martyrs they are. We 28 honour the servants that their honour may be reflected upon their Lord.

; And in his treatise Against Vigilantius:

As to the question of tapers* i.e. candles+, however, we do not, as you in vain misrepresent us, light them in the daytime, but by their solace we would cheer the darkness of the night, and watch for the dawn, lest we should be blind like you and sleep in darkness. And if some persons, being ignorant and simple minded laymen, or, at all events, religious women of whom we can truly say,[Rom. 10:2] I allow that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge adopt the practice in honour of the martyrs, what harm is thereby done to you? Once upon a time even the Apostles pleaded that the ointment was wasted, but they were rebuked by the voice of the Lord. Christ did not need the ointment, nor do martyrs need the light of tapers; and yet that woman poured out the ointment in honour of Christ, and her heart's devotion was accepted. All those who light these tapers have their reward according to their faith, as the Apostle says: Let every one abound in his own meaning. Do you call men of this sort idolaters? I do not deny, that all of us who believe in Christ have passed from the error of idolatry. For we are not born Christians, but become Christians by being born again. And because we formerly worshipped idols, does it follow that we ought not now to worship God lest we seem to pay like honour to Him and to idols? In the one case respect was paid to idols, and therefore the ceremony is to be abhorred; in the other the martyrs are venerated, and the same ceremony is therefore to be allowed. Throughout the whole Eastern Church, even when there are no relics of the martyrs, whenever the Gospel is to be read the candles are lighted, although the dawn may be reddening the sky, not of course to scatter the darkness, but by way of 29 evidencing our joy [Mt. 25:1].

From the passage of St. Jeromes letter to Riparius which we cited above, it appears that Vigilantius in rejecting the Christian practice of venerating relics raised the objection that the bodies of martyrs are unclean. This objection was not original with Vigilantius. It was the same objection which the heathens before and during his time raised against that Christian practice. To the heathens, the bodies of the dead were an object of loathing. For this reason, they were greatly offended when they saw Christians treating the bodies of martyrs with reverence and erecting places of worship over their tombs. For example, Emperor Julian the Apostate (361363), in his anti-Christian treatise Against the Galileans, wrote:
But you are so misguided that you have not even remained faithful to the teachings that were handed down to you by the apostles. And these also have been altered., so as to be worse and more impious, by those who came after. At any rate neither Paul nor Matthew nor Luke nor Mark ventured to call Jesus God. But the worthy John, since he perceived that a great number of people in many of the towns of Greece and Italy had already been infected by this disease, and because he heard, I suppose, that even the tombs of Peter and Paul were being worshipped ----secretly, it is true, but still he did hear this,----he, I say, was the first to venture to call Jesus God. And after he had spoken briefly about John the Baptist he referred again to the Word which he was proclaiming, and said, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."[Jn. 1:14) But how, he does not say, because he was ashamed. Nowhere, however, does he call

28 29

.Ibid, Letter 109,1. .Ibid, Against Vigilantius,7.

him either Jesus or Christ, so long as he calls him God and the Word, but as it were insensibly and secretly he steals away our ears, and says that John the Baptist bore this witness on behalf of Jesus Christ, that in very truth he it is whom we must believe to be God the Word. But that John says this concerning Jesus Christ I for my part do not deny. And yet certain of the impious think that Jesus Christ is quite distinct from the Word that was proclaimed by John. That however is not the case. For he whom John himself calls God the Word, this is he who, says he, was recognised by John the Baptist to be Jesus Christ. Observe accordingly how cautiously, how quietly and insensibly he introduces into the drama the crowning word of his impiety; and he is so rascally and deceitful that he rears his head once more to add, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."[Jn. 1:18] Then is this only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father the God who is the Word and became flesh? And if, as I think, it is indeed he, you also have certainly beheld God. For "He dwelt among you, and ye beheld his glory."[Jn. 1:19]Why then do you add to this that "No man hath seen God at any time"? For ye have indeed seen, if not God the Father, still God who is the Word. But if the only begotten Son is one person and the God who is the Word another, as I have heard from certain of your sect, then it appears that not even John made that rash statement. However this evil doctrine did originate with John; but who could detest as they deserve all those doctrines that you have invented as a sequel, while you keep adding many corpses newly dead to the corpse of long ago? You have filled the whole world with tombs and sepulchres, and yet in your scriptures it is nowhere said that you must grovel among tombs and pay them honour. But you have gone so far in iniquity that you think you need not listen even to the words of Jesus of Nazareth on this matter. Listen then to what he says about sepulchres : "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres; outward the tomb appears beautiful, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."[Mt. 23:27] If, then, Jesus said that sepulchres are full of uncleanness, how can you invoke God at them? . . . Therefore, since this is so, why do you grovel among tombs? Do you wish to hear the reason? It is not I who will tell you, but the prophet Isaiah: "They lodge among tombs and in caves for the sake of dream visions."[cf. Ish. 65:4) You observe, then, how ancient among the Jews was this work of witchcraft, namely, sleeping among tombs for the sake of dream visions. And indeed it is likely that your apostles, after their teacher's death, practised this and handed it down to you from the beginning, I mean to those who first adopted your faith, and that they themselves performed their spells more skilfully than you do, and displayed openly to those who came after them the places in which they performed this witchcraft 30 and abomination.

Elsewhere, in his Edict on funerals issued on February 12 in the year 363 and which was probably aimed at the Christians who buried their dead by day, we read:
As I have said, death is rest; and night harmonises with rest. Therefore I think it is fitting that business connected with the burials of the dead should be performed at night, since for many reasons we ought to forbid anything of the sort to go on by day. Throughout the city men are going to and fro each on his own business, and all the streets are full of men going to the law courts, or to or from the market, or sitting at work at their crafts, or visiting the temples to confirm the good hopes that the gods have vouchsafed. And then some persons or other, having laid a corpse on the bier, push their way into the midst of those who are busy about such matters. The thing is in every way intolerable. For those who meet the funeral are often filled with disgust, some because they regard it as an evil omen, while for others who are on the way to the temples it is not permitted to approach for worship till they have cleansed themselves from the pollution. For after such a sight it is not permitted to approach the gods who are the cause of life and 31 of all things least akin to decay

30 31

. Julian the Aposate, Against the Galilians. .Ibid, Letter 56.

Eunapius of Sadis, who like Julian was an initiate of Eleusinian mysteries, says in his Lives of the Sophists written about 405 A.D.:
They fettered the human race to the worship of slaves, and those not even honest slaves, instead of the true gods. For they collected the bones and skulls of criminals who had been put to death for numerous crimes, men whom the law courts of the city had condemned to punishment, made them out to be gods, haunted their sepulchres, and thought that they became better by defiling themselves at their graves. "Martyrs" the dead men were called, and "ministers" of a sort, and "ambassadors" from the gods to carry men's prayers, these slaves in vilest servitude, who had been consumed by stripes and carried on their 32 phantom forms the scars of their villainy.

The early Christian writers responded to this objection by pointing out that the bodies of the martyrs are holy and that they deserve to be venerated (i)because the bodies of the martyrs which lie in the grave is an essential part of the person of the martyr whose soul is now in heaven (ii)because they were once vessels in which the spirit dwelt (iii) because they will rise gloriously and immortal on the last day (iv) because they are members of the body of Christ (v) because God Himself honors them by working miracles through them. Thus the Christian compiler of the Apostolic Constitution (400 A.D.) wrote:
Do not therefore keep any such observances about legal and natural purgations, as thinking you are defiled by them. Neither do you seek after Jewish separations, or perpetual washings, or purifications upon the touch of a dead body. But without such observations assemble in the dormitories, reading the holy books, and singing for the martyrs which are fallen asleep, and for all the saints from the beginning of the world, and for your brethren that are asleep in the Lord, and offer the acceptable Eucharist, the representation of the royal body of Christ, both in your churches and in the dormitories; and in the funerals of the departed, accompany them with singing, if they were faithful in Christ. For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. And again: O my soul, return unto your rest, for the Lord has done you good. And elsewhere: The memory of the just is with encomiums. Proverbs 10:7 And, The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God. Wisdom 3:1 For those that have believed in God, although they are asleep, are not dead. For our Saviour says to the Sadducees: But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which is written, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God, therefore, is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him. Exodus 3:6; Luke 20:38 Wherefore, of those that live with God, even their very relics are not without honour. For even Elisha the prophet, after he was fallen asleep, raised up a dead man who was slain by the pirates of Syria. For his body touched the bones of Elisha, and he arose and revived. Now this would not have happened unless the body of Elisha were holy. And chaste Joseph embraced Jacob after he was dead upon his bed; and Moses and Joshua the son of Nun carried away the relics of Joseph, and did not esteem it a defilement. Whence you also, O bishops, and the rest, who without such observances touch the departed, ought not to think yourselves defiled. Nor abhor the relics of such persons, but avoid such observances, for they are foolish. And adorn yourselves with holiness and chastity, that you may become partakers of immortality, and partners of the kingdom of God, and may receive the promise of God, and may rest for 33 ever, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

St. Augustine, in his treatise The City of God which he began writing around 413 A.D.:
The bodies of the dead, nevertheless, are not to be despised and thrown aside, and least of all, those of the righteous and faithful, which were used in a chaste manner by the Spirit as the organs and vessels for
32 33

.Eunapius of Sadis, Lives of the Sophists. .Apostolic Constitution,6,30.

all good works. For if the dress or the ring or anything of the sort belonging to parents is more dear to their offspring as their affection for them was the greater, certainly then the bodies themselves are not to 34 be scorned, which are more intimately joined to us than anything we wear.

St. Jerome refutes the uncleanliness objection at length in his letter to Riparius:
I ask Vigilantius, Are the relics of Peter and of Paul unclean? Was the body of Moses unclean, of which we are told (according to the correct Hebrew text) that it was buried by the Lord Himself?[Deut. 34:6] And do we, every time that we enter the basilicas of apostles and prophets and martyrs, pay homage to the shrines of idols? Are the tapers which burn before their tombs only the tokens of idolatry? I will go farther still and ask a question which will make this theory recoil upon the head of its inventor and which will either kill or cure that frenzied brain of his, so that simple souls shall be no more subverted by his sacrilegious reasonings. Let him answer me this, Was the Lord's body unclean when it was placed in the sepulchre? And did the angels clothed in white raiment merely watch over a corpse dead and defiled, that ages afterwards this sleepy fellow might indulge in dreams and vomit forth his filthy surfeit, so as, like the persecutor Julian, either to destroy the basilicas of the saints or to convert them into heathen temples?..If the relics of the martyrs are not worthy of honour, how comes it that we read Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints? If dead men's bones defile those that touch them, how came it that the dead Elisha raised another man also dead, and that life came to this latter from the body of the prophet which according to Vigilantius must have been unclean? In that case every encampment of the host of Israel and the people of God was unclean; for they carried the bodies of Joseph and of the patriarchs with them in the wilderness, and carried their unclean ashes even into the holy land. In that case Joseph, who was a type of our Lord and Saviour, was a wicked man; for he carried up Jacob's bones with great pomp to Hebron merely to put his unclean father beside his unclean grandfather and great grandfather, that is, 35 one dead body along with others.

Also, in his treatise Against Vigilantius, we read:

And have you the audacity to speak of the mysterious something or other which you carry about in a little vessel and worship? I want to know what it is that you call something or other. Tell us more clearly (that there may be no restraint on your blasphemy) what you mean by the phrase a bit of powder wrapped up in a costly cloth in a tiny vessel. It is nothing less than the relics of the martyrs which he is vexed to see covered with a costly veil, and not bound up with rags or hair-cloth, or thrown on the midden, so that Vigilantius alone in his drunken slumber may be worshipped. Are we, therefore guilty of sacrilege when we enter the basilicas of the Apostles? Was the Emperor Constantius I. guilty of sacrilege when he transferred the sacred relics of Andrew, Luke, and Timothy to Constantinople? In their presence the demons cry out, and the devils who dwell in Vigilantius confess that they feel the influence of the saints. And at the present day is the Emperor Arcadius guilty of sacrilege, who after so long a time has conveyed the bones of the blessed Samuel from Judea to Thrace? Are all the bishops to be considered not only sacrilegious, but silly into the bargain, because they carried that most worthless thing, dust and ashes, wrapped in silk in golden vessel? Are the people of all the Churches fools, because they went to meet the sacred relics, and welcomed them with as much joy as if they beheld a living prophet in the midst of them, so that there was one great swarm of people from Palestine to Chalcedon with one voice re-echoing the praises of Christ? They were forsooth, adoring Samuel and not Christ, whose Levite and prophet Samuel was. You show mistrust because you think only of the dead body, and therefore blaspheme. Read the Gospel Matthew 22:32 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob: He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. If then they are alive, they are not, to use your expression, kept in honourable confinement;

34 35

.St. Augustine, The City of God,1,13. .St. Jerome, Letter 109,1-2.

Does the bishop of Rome do wrong when he offers sacrifices to the Lord over the venerable bones of the dead men Peter and Paul, as we should say, but according to you, over a worthless bit of dust, and judges their tombs worthy to be Christ's altars? And not only is the bishop of one city in error, but the bishops of the whole world, who, despite the tavern-keeper Vigilantius, enter the basilicas of the dead, in which a worthless bit of dust and ashes lies wrapped up in a cloth, defiled and defiling all else. Thus, according to you, the sacred buildings are like the sepulchres of the Pharisees, whitened without, while within they 36 have filthy remains, and are full of foul smells and uncleanliness.

From St. Jeromes refutation we can see how widespread the practice of venerating the relics of the saints was in the fourth century, for he speaks of all the bishops and all the churches as embracing it. St. Paulinus of Nola in his letter to Severus written in the year 402 speaks of the veneration of the True cross: Every year during the Lords Pasch the bishop of that city brings it out to be venerated by the people; he leads them in this show of respect. Only on the day when we celebrate the mystery of the cross itself is that source of mysteries brought out to mark the holy and solemn occasion; but occasionally devout pilgrims who have come there merely for that purpose beg that it be shown them as reward for their long journeying. It is said that this request is granted only by the kindness of the bishop; and it is likewise by his gift alone that these tiny fragments of sacred wood from the same cross are made available to win great graces of faith and blessings.37 Ghazar Parpetsi, in his History of the Armenians written at the end of the fifth century, informs us of the veneration that was paid to St. Sahak and his relics after his death:
The coveted remains of this blessed man were taken *g37+ by a multitude of priests and azats to [Sahak's] own native sephakan village named Ashtishat in the district of Taron. There they built a repository for the saint and placed the pure body of this just man in a place fit for the honest. They also built a glorious church there and a martyrium for the saints and adorned [them] with precious and costly [58] vessels. They established at the spot a monastery for a multitude of clerics, establishing continual maintenance of produce for the ease of the elderly [members] of the brotherhood. The azats and priests of the district established at that place (with enthusiastic popular support) yearly assemblies [where] from time to time and with the voluntary support of the masses of people and [the participation of] a great number of people who had come from distant places, they commemorated the day of his death. Much benefit for the healing of every sort of disease was obtained from the saint's relics. And with joyous hearts 38 they would return to their own dwelling.

St. Bede the venerable, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English nation which was written in the year 730 A.D., informs us that when St. Augustine (d.605 A.D.) Christianized the Britons, the bishop of Rome, St. Gregory (540-604), on hearing this sent to him among other things that were necessary for worship, the relics of the holy apostles and martyrs:
Moreover, the same Pope Gregory, hearing from Bishop Augustine, that he had a great harvest, and but few labourers, sent to him, together with his aforesaid messengers, several fellow labourers and ministers of the word of whom the first and principal were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus, and by them all things in general that were necessary for the worship and service of the church, viz., sacred vessels and
36 37

.Ibid, Against Vigilantius,5.8. .St. Paulinus of Nola, Letter, 31.6. 38 .Ghazar Parpetsi, History of the Armenians, 18.

vestments for the altars, also ornaments for the churches, and vestments for the priests and clerks, as likewise relics of the holy apostles and martyrs; besides many books. He also sent letters, wherein he signified that he had transmitted the pall to him, and at the same time directed how he should constitute 39 bishops in Britain.

Elsewhere, St. Bede informs us of the veneration offered to the incorrupt body of St. Etheldreha (d. 679), daughter of King Anna of the East Angles and Queen Hereswide of England:
The body of the holy virgin and spouse of Christ, when her grave was opened, being brought into sight, was found as free from corruption as if she had died and been buried on that very day; as the aforesaid Bishop Wilfrid, and many others that know it, can testify... They washed the virgin's body, and having clothed it in new garments, brought it into the church, and laid it in the coffin that had been brought, 40 where it is held in great veneration to this day

The citations can be multiplied. But those we have provided are enough to show that the Church from the earliest times approved and fostered the veneration of relics of the saints. The teaching of the Church regarding the veneration of relics is clearly expressed by the council of Trent in the following words:
The holy bodies of the holy martyrs and of others living with Christ, which were the living members of Christ and the temple the Holy Ghost, [See I Cor. 3:16; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16] to be awakened by Him to eternal life and to be glorified, are to be venerated by the faithful,[Cf. II Council of Nicaea (787), can. 7] through which many benefits are bestowed by God on men, so that those who maintain that veneration and honor are not due to the relics of the saints, or that these and other memorials are honored by the faithful without profit, and that the places dedicated to the memory of the saints for the purpose of obtaining their aid are visited in vain, are to be utterly condemned, as the Church has already long since 41 condemned and now again condemns them

The above declaration of the council of Trent was directed against the sixteenth century Reformers who rejected the veneration of relics. Three objections were raised by them against the practice (i) that it is idolatrous. (ii) that it encourages superstition (iii) that it is unscriptural. During those troubled times, in many places where those in authority had abandoned the old faith and had embraced the new ideas of the Reformers, pilgrimages were prohibited, the tombs of the saints were defaced and their relics destroyed. Although presently, the followers of the Reformers (i.e. Protestants) no longer engage in the destruction of shrines and relics of the saints but since they still reject the veneration of relics, and in their rejection of the practice they still repeat the objection of the Reformers, we shall here respond to these objections. Starting with the first of these objections. Earlier on in the section on the veneration of the saints, we saw that in honoring a creature, an individual commits the sin of idolatry when he or she offers the honor which belongs to God alone (i.e. divine honor) to that creature. Thus, in honoring the relics of the saints, an individual is guilty of idolatry if the honor which he or she offers to the relics of the saints is divine honor. In that same section, we also saw how one offers divine honor to a creature. By considering or honoring that creature as a god, and also by honoring that creature in place of God. Thus, an individual who considers or honors the relics of
39 40

.Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, 1,29. .Ibid,4,19. 41 .Council of Trent, session 25, December 3, 1563.

the saints as gods or who honors the relics of the saints in place of God, is offering divine honor to the relics of the saints and, hence is guilty of the sin of idolatry. But Catholics do not offer divine honor to the relics of the saints. We do not consider or honor the relics of the saints as gods; for we believe there is only one God, the Blessed Trinity, and Him alone do we offer the worship of adoration. Nor do we honor the relics of the saints in place of God, for we believe that God cannot share His glory with another. We do not even offer absolute honor to the relics of the saints, i.e. do not honor relics for their own sake, for we believe that there is no power in the relics themselves entitling them to our honor. The kind of honor which we offer to the relics is a relative honor, i.e. we honor the relics of a saint for the sake of the saint whom the relics belong; and for the sake of God whose servant the saint is. The problem with men like Calvin is that they fail to recognize that there is a distinction between divine honor and inferior honor, and also that signs of reverence such as bowing and kneeling do not always connote divine honor. This can be seen from his argument in that passage: I admit that people do not arrive at once at open idolatry, but they gradually advance from one abuse to another until they fall into this extremity, and, indeed, those who call themselves Christians have, in this respect, idolatrised as much as Pagans ever did. They have prostrated themselves, and knelt before relics, just as if they were worshipping God; they have burnt candles before them in sign of homage; they have placed their confidence in them, and have prayed to them, as if the virtue and the grace of God had entered into them. Now, if idolatry be nothing else than the transfer elsewhere of the honour which is due to God, can it be denied that this is idolatry? Calvin has a problem with prostrating and kneeling before relics. To him the papists are idolaters for doing these things. But as we ha ve explained earlier there is a distinction between divine honor and inferior honor, and signs of reverence such as kneeling and prostrating do not always connote divine honor but can be used to offer inferior honor to a creature. Now, when a Catholic kneels or prostrates before the body of a saint, our intention is not to offer to that object the honor which belong to God. The kind of honor which we intend to offer to the relics of the saints by such acts of reverence is inferior honor, and this we offer to the relics of the saints not for their own sake but for the sake of the saints whose relics they are; and for the sake of God whose servants the saints are. The principle of offering relative honor to insensible objects is recognized in the Scriptures themselves. The same principle is accepted in the various cultures of the world. Today as in years before, we find people kissing the cloths or robes of their leaders as a sign of respect to them, we find Christians including those from Protestant heritage kneeling before or kissing the Bible as a sign of reverence to God whose word is contained in the book. Calvin also speaks of us placing our confidence in relics and praying to them. But we would be the most foolish of men if we do those things which Calvin here charges us of. Catholics are fully aware that relics are insensible objects and so we do not pray to them for we know that they cannot hear us. So what are Catholics doing when we are found offering prayers before the body of a saint or his relics? When we are seen praying before the body of a saint or his relics our intention is to thank God for making the saint, whose body or relics we see lying before us, His faithful servant; and to ask the saint, whose body or relics we see lying before us but whom we believe is now with God in heaven, to intercede with God for us. The Christian Poet Prudentius speaks of this in one of his hymns: Thus we shall honor her *St. Eulalias+ relics enshrined here in this altar raised up in her name. She, at the foot of Gods heavenly throne,

touched by our prayers and melodious hymns, graciously smiles on her people below. 42Here we see one of the usefulness of relics which Catholic authors have long since pointed out to their detractors. The relics of the saints remind us of their holy lives and inspire us to honor their memory. This inspiration encourages us to thank God the source of all holiness, to imitate the saints as we strive by Gods grace to live the Christian life, and to ask them for their prayers. St. John Chrysostom, as far back as the fourth century, could write:
To show is great and varied providence towards the race of man, God in His loving -kindness fashioned the whole creation. He stretched out the heaven and spread out the sea. He lit the lamp of the sun and made the moon to shine. He gave us the earth for our dwelling and all the products of the earth to feed and sustain our bodies. He has also given us the relics of the holy martyrs, although He has taken their souls to Himself, for He says: The souls of the just are in the hand of God *Wis. 3:1+. But even to this day He has left us their bodies to give us the exhortation and encouragement we need. Hence, as we stand before the tomb of the holy ones, let us rouse ourselves to such zeal as to imitate them; as we look upon their tombs, let us call to mind the deeds by which they won success; let us think of the reward stored up for a triumph such as theirsBeloved, when you stand besides the tombs and your mind considers that this whole throng hastens with such speed to gather here they may clasp the dust and reap the blessing which comes from these tomb, how will you fail to show the same zeal as the martyr, so that you yourself be judged worthy of the same reward? If they enjoy such honor here from us, their fellow subjects, what sort and how great a freedom to speak will they enjoy from the Master on the dread day when they are going to shine forth more brilliantly than the ray of the sun? For He says: Then the Just will shine forth 43 like the sun *Mt. 13:43+.

Similarly, St. Paulinus of Nola, in a letter which he wrote to Severus in the year 403 to inform him he was sending him a relic of the true cross, comments:
Once you think that you behold the wood of which our salvation, the Lord of Majesty, was hanged with nails whilst the world trembled, you, too, must tremble, but you must also rejoice. Let us remember that the rocks were rent [Mt. 27:51] when this cross was seen; so let us imitate the rocks at least, and rend our hearts with fear of God. Let us recall that the veil of the temples was also rent [Mt. 27:51] by the same mystery of the cross. We must realize that the rending of the veil was revealed to us that, hearing the voice of the Lord and the mystery of His boundless love, we may refrain from things of the flesh and rend in two the veil of unbelief. So, when we have uncovered the surface of our hearts, we may behold the mystery of the saving gifts of GodI hope that the cross will not only be a reminder of its blessing, but 44 also generate for you incorruptibility, so that looking on it you may be fired to faith.

From this one can understand why whenever a Catholic comes before a relic or relics of a saint, it takes no time before he or she is seen praying before it. It is the relic(s) that inspires us on this occasion to pray, and the content of such prayers as we have explained is filled with the intent to love and glorify God, to love the saints, to imitate their virtues, and to seek their intercession. There is nothing idolatrous about this. But have there not been cases as claimed by Calvin whereby some in their zeal to honor relics came to think that there is some power inherent in relics and so were led to honor them for their own sake or to address prayers to them as if they could hear mens prayers? This question
42 43

.Prudentius, The book of the martyrs crowns, 3, 211-215. .St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions,7,1.3. 44 .St. Paulinus of Nola, Letter 31,1.6.

takes us to the second charge put forward by the Reformers that veneration of relics encourages superstition. The Church, it should it should be noted, does not teach that there is any magical virtue or physical curative efficacy residing in the relic itself. What the Church teaches is this: that relics are often the occasion of God given miracles. This teaching is clearly stated by the Church at the council of Trent in the document which we quoted above (through which many benefits are bestowed by God on men). This teaching was held by the Church in the early centuries as can be seen from the following quotations from the early Church fathers and medieval writes. St. John Chrysostom, writing in the fourth century, comments:
Let us have continuous recourse to them as physicians of the spirit. It was for this reason the good Master has left their bodies with us, that we might stand beside their tombs and clasp them with the whole strength of our soul, and in this way get from them the greatest healing for our illness of soul and body. For if we stand beside them with faith, whether our sickness be of the body or the soul, we will not leave their tombs without the healing of which we stand in need...The Master has graciously given us the 45 tombs of the martyrs to be our spiritual fountain which can pour forth the waters in abundance

St. Augustine, writing in the fifth century, says:

To what do these miracles witness, but to this faith which preaches Christ risen in the flesh, and ascended with the same into heaven? For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, witnesses of this faith, drawing upon themselves by their testimony the hatred of the world, and conquering the world not by resisting it, but by dying. For this faith they died, and can now ask these benefits from the Lord in whose name they were slain. For this faith their marvellous constancy was exercised, so that in these miracles great power was manifested as the result. For if the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life had not taken place in Christ, and were not to be accomplished in His people, as predicted by Christ, or by the prophets who foretold that Christ was to come, why do the martyrs who were slain for this faith which proclaims the resurrection possess such power? For whether God Himself wrought these miracles by that wonderful manner of working by which, though Himself eternal, He produces effects in time; or whether He wrought them by servants, and if so, whether He made use of the spirits of martyrs as He uses men who are still in the body, or effects all these marvels by means of angels, over whom He exerts an invisible, immutable, incorporeal sway, so that what is said to be done by the martyrs is done not by their operation, but only by their prayer and request; or whether, finally, some things are done in one way, others in another, and so that man cannot at all comprehend them nevertheless these miracles attest this faith which preaches the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life.

He continues:
Here perhaps our adversaries will say that their gods also have done some wonderful things, if now they begin to compare their gods to our dead men. Or will they also say that they have gods taken from among dead men, such as Hercules, Romulus, and many others whom they fancy to have been received into the number of the gods? But our martyrs are not our gods; for we know that the martyrs and we have both but one God, and that the same. Nor yet are the miracles which they maintain to have been done by means of their temples at all comparable to those which are done by the tombs of our martyrs. If they seem similar, their gods have been defeated by our martyrs as Pharaoh's magi were by Moses. In reality, the demons wrought these marvels with the same impure pride with which they aspired to be the gods of the nations; but the martyrs do these wonders, or rather God does them while they pray and assist, in

45

.St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions, 7,5.10

order that an impulse may be given to the faith by which we believe that they are not our gods, but have, 46 together with ourselves, one God.

St. John Damascene, writing in the eight century, comments:

In the relics of the saints the Lord Christ has provided us with saving fountains which in many ways pour out benefactions and gush with fragrant ointment. And let no one disbelieve. For, if by the will of God water poured out of the precipitous living rock in the desert, and for the thirsty Sampson from the jawbone of an ass[Cf. Exod. 17:6; Judges 15:19], is it unbelievable that fragrant ointment should flow from the relics of the martyrs? Certainly not, at least for such as know the power of God and the honor which the saints have from Him. In the Law, anyone who touched a corpse was accounted unclean [Cf. Num. 19:11]. But these of whom we speak are not dead. Because Life itself and the Author of life was reckoned amongst the dead, we do not call these dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection and in the faith in Him. For how can a dead body work miracles? How, then, through them are demons put to flight, diseases driven out, the sick cured, the blind restored to sight, lepers cleansed, temptation and trouble driven away; and how through them does 'every best gift come down from the Father of lights'[Jas. 1:17] to them who ask with undoubting faith? What would you not do to find a patron to present you to a mortal king and intercede with him in your behalf? Are not the patrons of the entire race 47 to be honored who make petitions to God in our behalf?

St. Thomas Aquinas, in the thirteenth century, wrote:

He who has a certain affection for anyone, venerates whatever of his is left after his death, not only his body and the parts thereof, but even external things, such as his clothes, and such like. Now it is manifest that we should show honor to the saints of God, as being members of Christ, the children and friends of God, and our intercessors. Wherefore in memory of them we ought to honor any relics of theirs in a fitting manner: principally their bodies, which were temples, and organs of the Holy Ghost dwelling and operating in them, and are destined to be likened to the body of Christ by the glory of the Resurrection. 48 Hence God Himself fittingly honors such relics by working miracles at their presence

But is there any evidence in sacred history or ancient Church history or recent times that God acts in this way, i.e. that He bestows many benefits on men by means of relics? Yes there are. Sacred history. In the OT book of Fourth Kings (Second Kings), the sacred writer informs us how a miracle was wrought through the mantle of the Prophet Elias which the prophet had left on earth after he was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind: And he took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him: and going back, he stood upon the bank of the Jordan, and he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias, that had fallen from him, and they were not divided. And he said: Where is now the God of Elias? And he struck the waters, and they were divided, hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over(4 Kgs [2 Kgs] 2:13-14). Elsewhere in that same book we are told how a dead man was awaken to life by contact with the bones of Eliseus: And Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab came into the land the same year. And some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the body into the sepulchre of Eliseus. And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life, and stood upon his feet (4 Kgs [2 Kgs] 13:20-21).
46 47

. St. Augustine, the City of God,22,8.9.10 .St. John Damascene, The Orthodox Faith, 4, 15. 48 .St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 3,25,6.

Ancient Church history. In the three synoptic Gospels it is reported that a certain woman with hemorrhage was cured of her ailment by touching the hem of our Lords garment:
And there was a certain woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had bestowed all her substance on physicians, and could not be healed by any. She came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment; and immediately the issue of her blood stopped. And Jesus said: Who is it that touched me? And all denying, Peter and they that were with him said: Master, the multitudes throng and press thee, and dost thou say, Who touched me? And Jesus said: Somebody hath touched me; for I know that virtue is gone out from me. And the woman seeing that she was not hid, came trembling, and fell down before his feet, and declared before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was immediately healed. But he said to her: Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go thy way in peace (Mt. 9:20; Mk. 5:25-34).

From St. Luke we learn that in the first century A.D the Christians at Ephesus laid the handkerchiefs and aprons which had come in contact with the Apostle St. Paul on the sick persons and thereby achieved cure of sickness and freedom from evil spirits (Acts 19:12). Outside the NT, St. Gregory of Nazianzen, writing in the second half of the fourth century, shows that in his time there were miraculous happenings which were connected to the relics of the saints. For He speaks of the victims slain for Christ's sake, i.e. the martyrs, as those to whom belong the great honours and festivals; those by whom devils are cast out and diseases healed; to whom belong manifestations of future events, and to whom belong prophecies; whose very bodies possess equal power with their holy souls, whether touched or worshipped; of whom even the drops of the blood and little relics of their passion, produce equal effect with their bodies!49St. Augustine of Hippo, in his Confession written about 400 A.D., informs us that when the bodies of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius which had lay hidden for years were found and dug up and brought with due honor to Ambroses basilica people who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured and the devils who had been tormenting them openly admitted what they were and what they had done. Also he continues there was a case of a citizen of Milan, well known to everyone, who had been blind for years. When this man inquired and was told what was the reason why the people where shouting with joy, he jumped his guide to lead him to the place. When he got there he begged to be allowed in so that he would touch with his handkerchief the bier on which were lying the saints whose death is precious in thy sight. He did this, put the handkerchief to his eyes, and immediately his eyes where opened.50St. Augustine repeats the case of this Milanese in another work written much later: The miracle which was wrought at Milan when I was there, and by which a blind man was restored to sight, could come to the knowledge of many; for not only is the city a large one, but also the emperor was there at the time, and the occurrence was witnessed by an immense concourse of people that had gathered to the bodies of the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius, which had long lain concealed and unknown, but were now made known to the bishop Ambrose in a dream, and discovered by him. By virtue of these remains the darkness of that blind man was scattered, and he saw the light of day.51St. Ambrose was the bishop of Milan at

49 50

.St. Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration 4. .St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 9,7. 51 .Ibid, The City of God, 22,8. Also see sermon 286,5 where St. Augustine repeats this story again.

the time this event occurred and was one of the immense concourse of people who witnessed the event. Ambrose himself made reference of it in a letter written around 386 A.D.:
I caused the ground to be opened before the rails of the Church of S.S. Felix and Nabor. I found the suitable tokens; and when some persons were brought for us to lay our hands upon, the power of the holy martyrs became so manifest that before I began to speak, one of them, a woman, was seized by an evil spirit and thrown down upon the ground in the place where the martyrs lay. We found two men of stupendous size, such as belonged to ancient days. All their bones were entire, and there was much blood. The people flocked thither in crowds throughout the whole of those two days. We arranged all the bones in order, and carried them when evening set in, to the Basilica of Fausta; where we kept vigils throughout the night, and some possessed persons received imposition of hands. The following day we transferred them to the Basilica which they call Ambrosian. During their transportation a blind man was healed... The man is well known: when in health he was employed in public trade, his name is Severus, a butcher by business. When his affliction befell him he laid down his employment. He calls as his witnesses those men by whose charities he was supported; he summons as witnesses of his present visitation the very men who bore testimony to his blindness. He declares that when he touched the border of the 52 garment with which the martyrs' bodies were clothed, his sight was restored to him.

Back to St. Augustine, in his City of God cited above, he narrates several miracles wrought by means of the relics of St. Stephen the first martyr. He concludes his narrative by mentioning one miracle which occurred while he was present in the church:
Even now,..., many miracles are wrought, the same God who wrought those we read of still performing them, by whom He will and as He will...One miracle was wrought among ourselves, which, though no greater than those I have mentioned, was yet so signal and conspicuous, that I suppose there is no inhabitant of Hippo who did not either see or hear of it, none who could possibly forget it. There were seven brothers and three sisters of a noble family of the Cappadocian Csarea, who were cursed by their mother, a new-made widow, on account of some wrong they had done her, and which she bitterly resented, and who were visited with so severe a punishment from Heaven, that all of them were seized with a hideous shaking in all their limbs. Unable, while presenting this loathsome appearance, to endure the eyes of their fellow citizens, they wandered over almost the whole Roman world, each following his own direction. Two of them came to Hippo, a brother and a sister, Paulus and Palladia, already known in many other places by the fame of their wretched lot. Now it was about fifteen days before Easter when they came, and they came daily to church, and specially to the relics of the most glorious Stephen, praying that God might now be appeased, and restore their former health. There, and wherever they went, they attracted the attention of every one. Some who had seen them elsewhere, and knew the cause of their trembling, told others as occasion offered. Easter arrived, and on the Lord's day, in the morning, when there was now a large crowd present, and the young man was holding the bars of the holy place where the relics were, and praying, suddenly he fell down, and lay precisely as if asleep, but not trembling as he was wont to do even in sleep. All present were astonished. Some were alarmed, some were moved with pity; and while some were for lifting him up, others prevented them, and said they should rather wait and see what would result. And behold! He rose up, and trembled no more, for he was healed, and stood quite well, scanning those who were scanning him. Who then refrained himself from praising God? The whole church was filled with the voices of those who were shouting and congratulating him. Then they came running to me, where I was sitting ready to come into the church. One after another they throng in, the last comer telling me as news what the first had told me already; and while I rejoiced and inwardly gave God thanks, the young man himself also enters, with a number of others, falls at my knees, is raised up to receive my kiss. We go in to the congregation: the church was full, and ringing with the shouts of joy, Thanks to God! Praised be God! every one joining and shouting on all sides, I have healed the
52

.St. Ambrose, Letter 22,2.17.

people, and then with still louder voice shouting again. Silence being at last obtained, the customary lessons of the divine Scriptures were read. And when I came to my sermon, I made a few remarks suitable to the occasion and the happy and joyful feeling, not desiring them to listen to me, but rather to consider the eloquence of God in this divine work. The man dined with us, and gave us a careful account of his own, his mother's, and his family's calamity. Accordingly, on the following day, after delivering my sermon, I promised that next day I would read his narrative to the people. And when I did so, the third day after Easter Sunday, I made the brother and sister both stand on the steps of the raised place from which I used to speak; and while they stood there their pamphlet was read. The whole congregation, men and women alike, saw the one standing without any unnatural movement, the other trembling in all her limbs; so that those who had not before seen the man himself saw in his sister what the divine compassion had removed from him. In him they saw matter of congratulation, in her subject for prayer. Meanwhile, their pamphlet being finished, I instructed them to withdraw from the gaze of the people; and I had begun to discuss the whole matter somewhat more carefully, when lo! As I was proceeding, other voices are heard from the tomb of the martyr, shouting new congratulations. My audience turned round, and began to run to the tomb. The young woman, when she had come down from the steps where she had been standing, went to pray at the holy relics, and no sooner had she touched the bars than she, in the same way as her brother, collapsed, as if falling asleep, and rose up cured. While, then, we were asking what had happened, and what occasioned this noise of joy, they came into the basilica where we were, leading her from the martyr's tomb in perfect health. Then, indeed, such a shout of wonder rose from men and women together, that the exclamations and the tears seemed like never to come to an end. She was led to the place where she had a little before stood trembling. They now rejoiced that she was like her brother, as before they had mourned that she remained unlike him; and as they had not yet uttered their prayers in her behalf, they perceived that their intention of doing so had been speedily heard. They shouted God's praises without words, but with such a noise that our ears could scarcely bear it. What was there in the hearts of these exultant people but the faith of Christ, for which Stephen had 53 shed his blood?

From Paulinus of Perigueux , the fifth century ecclesiastical writer, we learn that the following inscription can be read by pilgrims upon entry to the new church of St. Martin at Tours which was completed in the year 473:
When you have bowed to the earth, your face sunk in the dust, your wet eyes pressed to the beaten ground, raise your eyes, and, with a trembling glance, perceive wonders and commit your cause to the best of patrons. No book can include such great achievements though they are here recorded in stone inscriptions. The earth does not shut in *Martins+ labor, which the Royal Court of Heaven has received and the stars inscribe in shinning Jewels. If you seek the help of Martin, rise beyond the stars, touch heaven, inspect the angelic host in the aerial region. There, joined to his Lord, seek your patron, as he steadily follows the steps of the Eternal King. If you are doubtful, look at the miracles you see here, by which the True Savior honors His servants merit. As you gaze on what should be recounted and retell what you have seen, you have become the last of many thousands of witnesses. All the wonders the Holy Scriptures recount,[Martin] renews by Gods aid. The blind, the lame, the poor, the possessed, the tormented, the sick, the feeble, the oppressed, the captive, the afflicted, the indigent, all profit by his gift. Every cure shows forth miracles worthy of the Apostles. He who comes in weeping, goes out rejoicing. All clouds are dispelled. [Martin] is the remedy which calms remorse. Ask for his assistance: it is not in vain 54 that you knock at this door. His generous goodness extends over the whole world

53

.St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 22, 8. See also, Augustines sermon 320 -23, which contains a shorthand report of the sermons which Augustine delivered at the course of this event and a copy of the account given by Paul (the sick brother who was healed) to Augustine. 54 .Paulinus of Perigueux, De Orantibus

Evagrius Scolasticus, the sixth century Church historian, in his description of the Church of St. Euphemia, speak of the miraculous occurrences at her tomb:
The place of meeting was the sacred precinct of Euphemia, the martyr, situated in the district of Chalcedon in Bithynia, and distant not more than two stadia from the Bosphorus...The holy place consists of three immense buildings. One is open to the sky, including a court of great extent, and embellished on all sides with columns; and next to it another, nearly resembling it in its length, breadth, and columns, and differing from it only in being roofed. On the north side of this, facing the East, is a round building, skilfully terminated in a dome, and surrounded in the interior with columns of uniform materials and size. These support a gallery under the same roof, so contrived, that those who are disposed, may thence both supplicate the martyr and be present at the mysteries. Within the domed building, towards the Eastern part, is a splendid enclosure, where are preserved the sacred remains of the martyr in a long coffin (it is distinguished by some persons by the term "long") of silver, skilfully worked. The wonders which have at certain times been wrought by the holy martyr, are manifest to all Christians. For frequently she has appeared in a dream to the bishops of the city from time to time, and even to certain persons whose lives have been otherwise distinguished, and has bid them visit her and gather a vintage at her sanctuary. When such an occurrence has been ascertained by the sovereigns, the patriarch, and the city, they visit the temple, both those who sway the sceptre, and those who are invested with sacred and civil offices, as well as the whole multitude, desirous to partake in the mysteries. Accordingly, the president of the church of Constantinople, with his attendant priests, enters, in sight of the public, the sanctuary where the already-mentioned sacred body is deposited. There is an aperture in the left side of the coffin, secured with small doors, through which they introduce a sponge attached to an iron rod, so as to reach the sacred relics, and after turning it round, they draw it out, covered with stains and clots of blood. On witnessing this, all the people bend in worship, giving glory to God. So great has been the quantity of blood thus extracted, that both the pious sovereigns and the assembled priests, as well as the congregated people, all share in a liberal distribution, and portions are sent to those of the faithful who desire them, in every place under the sun. The clots also are permanent, neither does the appearance of the sacred blood undergo any change. These divine manifestations occur not at the recurrence of any definite period, but according as the life of the prelate or gravity of manners calls for them. Accordingly it is said, that when the governor of the church is a person reverend and remarkable for virtues, the marvel occurs with peculiar frequency; but when such is not his character, such divine operations are rarely displayed. I will, however, mention a circumstance which suffers no interruption depending on lapse of time or seasonable occasion, nor yet is vouchsafed with a distinction between the faithful and infidels, but to all indiscriminately. Whenever any person approaches the spot where is deposited the precious coffin in which are the holy relics, he is filled with an odour surpassing in sweetness every perfume with which mankind are acquainted, for it resembles neither the mingled fragrance of the meadows, nor that which is exhaled from the sweetest substances, nor is it such as any perfumer could prepare: but it is of a peculiar 55 and surpassing kind, of itself sufficiently indicating the virtue of its source

Recent times. Many miracles and supernatural phenomena have occurred in recent years at the tombs and shrines of the saints. There is the case of the incorruption of the bodies of various Catholic saints. For example, the body of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes apparitions, who died on April 16, 1879, have remain incorrupt for over a hundred years and can be viewed in the chapel bearing her name in the mother house of her order in Nevers, France, where it is placed in a coffin of gold and glass. The body of St. Rita of Cascia, saint of impossible and desperate cases, who died on May 22, 1457, has remained intact for more than six hundred years and can be viewed in the basilica bearing her name in Cascia, Italy, where it is placed in a glass case. One of the most amazing preservations, says Joan Cruz who carried out
55

.Evagrius Scolasticus, Church History, 2,3.

an extensive study on this subject is that of St. Andrew Bobola (1590 -1657). Prior to his martyrdom he was partially flayed alive, his hands were hacked off and his tongue was torn from his head. Splinters of wood were driven under his finger nails, and his face sustained such mutilations that he was scarcely recognizable. After hours of further tortures and mutilations, he was dispatched by a sword blow to the neck. His body was hastily buried by Catholics in a vault beneath the Jesuit church at Pinsk, where it is found forty years later perfectly preserved, inspite of the open wounds, which would normally foster corruption. Although his grave had been damp, causing his vestments to rot, and inspite of the proximity of decaying corpses, his body was perfectly flexible, his flesh and muscles soft to touch, and the blood which cover the numerous wounds was found to be like that which is freshly congealed. The preservation was officially recognized by the Congregation of Rites in 1835. Even though the relics was roughly handled during its numerous translations, the body remains after more than three hundred years in a marvelous state of preservation56The body of the saint, today, lies in a reliquary of silver and crystal and can be viewed below the main altar of the church bearing his name in Warsaw, Poland. There is also the case of exudation of oil, which possesses healing properties, from the bodies of various Catholic saints. For example, the bones of the Apostle St. Andrew, now enshrined in Amalfi, Italy, has since ancient times produced a mysterious oil called manna. The body of the venerable mother Maria of Jesus (1560-1640), a companion of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), excludes a perfume described as that of rose and jasmines and additionally transpires oil which continues to flow in our day. The body of this venerable is enclosed in a marble sarcophagus at the Carmelite Convent of San Jose in Toledo, Spain. For more details on these subjects, see the two works of Joan Cruz, Relics and The Incorruptibles. Among the numerous miracles which in recent years have occurred to others at the tombs of the saints, we shall here for the sake on brevity speak only of those connected to St. Charbel Makhlouf (d. 1898)57 whose tomb lies in the monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon. The tomb of this humble servant of God has been a site for pilgrimages ever since the day he died. Hundreds of miracles were performed through the intercession of Saint Charbel in 'Annaya, Lebanon, and throughout the world. By 1977, 'Annaya had received 135,000 letters which are kept in an archive. They have come from 95 countries that wish to share with Charbel's community the news of miracles, cures and wonders. Two of the cures which have been acknowledged as miraculous by Church authorities are worth mentioning. The first case is that of Sister Maria Abel Kamari S.S.C.G who suffered from sharp pains caused by a gastric ulcer. She had been operated on, but without success and she went on suffering for fourteen years, compelled to stay in bed, unable to take food, and three times she was so near to dying that she was given the Sacrament of Anointing. Such was her condition, when on July 12, 1950 she was taken on pilgrimage to St. Charbel's tomb in Annaya. She could not even walk to the tomb, but when she was there after long and fervent prayer she felt new strength in her body, and a few minutes
56 57

.Joan Carrol Cruz, The Incorruptibles, Tan books and Publishers, Inc (1979), P.36. .During the historic visit of the relics of this particular saint to Nigeria from 16 to 30 May 2005, I was privileged on two separate occasions to have beheld with my very eyes and venerated the precious bones of the holy servant of God when it was put up for public display, first at the Church of the Annunciation, Iyagunku, Ibadan, during a mass conducted by the Archbishop of Ibadan Province, Most. Rev. Felix Alaba Job, and the Archbishop of JbeilLebanon, Most. Rev. Bechara El Rai, and again in a church that belongs to a Maronite Catholic Community during a mass conducted according to the Maronite rite by some Lebanese priests in the same Ibadan.

later she got up without any help and started walking, followed by the people who cried that it was a miracle. She was completely cured. The second case is that of Mr. Alessandro Obeid. A branch of a tree had struck him on his right eye; this in the year 1937 and this caused a break of the retina so that he lost his sight. Mr. Oubeid visited many doctors, but it was useless till the end of 1950, when suddenly the eye was cured after many prayers near the tomb of St. Charbel in Annaya. Here is what the doctor charged to examine this fact wrote: According to science and conscience, we must say that an eye so ill and for so long was certainly lost forever. Therefore we cannot explain how it has been cured, certainly not through natural means. We need to consider this extraordinary fact with great humility, and to attribute it to an Almighty Will that operates only by divine grace. There is no other explanation, and it is certain that we have seriously sought an explanation without finding one.58

58

.Cf. Joan Carrol Cruz, The Incorruptibles, P.297